Everything is a repeat. Pumpkins= Rugby Balls, Dragsters= Hot Rods. I looked forward to seeing something new every week. I’m watching the Hot Rod show right now... Seems they’re using the same animations from last season. The teams are even going the exact same way. Big engine and heavy. Motorcycle engine, light.... nearly EXACT. When I thought that they couldn’t think of something new, they did... flying machines, the list continues.

-- Jedediah Frey (jedediahf@hotmail.com), January 04, 2001

Answers

Response to Why watch the US version, theyÂ’re doing the same stuff.

I must agree with Jed. I was more than a little dismayed with the "All American" version of JYW. I've known for a long while that much of the Junkyard Wars challenge was contrived, to say the least; I mean to say, I've scavanged a lot of automotive scrapyards for my various projects over the years, and I have NEVER found a fully operational internal combustion engine. Even so, I accepted the fact that the JYW scrapyard is carefully "stocked" per-episode (a 200 ft. roll of Mylar found in the trunk of a junk car? C'mon!). But I accepted this as part of the charm of the show. I was more impressed with the ingenuity and teamwork of the Meglomaniacs, The Beach Boys, etc... UNTIL I saw the All American version of Junkyard Wars. As Jed correctly observes, at least two of the challenges in the new season are DIRECT remakes of last season's British challenges. Which leads me to believe that these designs are purely scripted, and that there is no real ingenui

-- Charles Austin (Veiocity@aol.com), January 04, 2001.

Response to Why watch the US version, theyÂ’re doing the same stuff.

Just to set the record straight, before we went to England to film our episode we saw 2 episodes. We saw the cannon and the glider shows. When we walked up to the hosts at the begining of the show we learned what we were going to build. You don't have to believe me, but, there is no scripting, you saw me standing around alot, waiting for the guys to find parts. we built that Air Cannon in a little over 4 hours after we found the necessary parts. What they didn't or wouldn't show was the frustration in not being able to use the majority of the parts that were found for one reason or another. Although we came up with what looked like the rugby ball shooter, it was far more efficient, 20lbs of air pressure vs 120lbs of air pressure and more distance with a heavier projectile. We had no knowledge of the previous shows or it would have been too easy. We would have known what was used, like the first valve we found. I realize that starting over with people you aren't sure of is difficult for the producers, and not all of the American contestants shared our attitude. So reusing challenges eliminated some variables for them, they had some idea of what should happen.

-- justjay-Captain-Three Rusty Juveniles (justjay@neo.rr.com), January 04, 2001.

Response to Why watch the US version, theyÂ’re doing the same stuff.

Well said Jay!

I would note that while the first two eps we've seen of the new series are repeats of previous challenges, the machines created were superior in every way to the previous versions; better distance, higher top speeds. And clearly you couldn't be copyin the older designs, since when you applied the other shows weren't broadcast yet!

You did a darn good job on your cannon - 1/6 the pressure, and the ranging shot easily passed the best distance of the other two machines. You probably should have bore-sighted the last shot to get some points, but that's strategy and not design. I hope you get a chance to try again soon.

To be fair to the other side (the actual winners), the trebuchet was just about the coolest thing I've ever seen. PV

-- pv (pjgv@yahoo.com), January 04, 2001.

Response to Why watch the US version, theyÂ’re doing the same stuff.

I just have a couple of questions:

1) If the show is filmed in England why do we have that jerk of an announcer? Because he has an American accent?

2) Is it just me, or does it seem like the quality of the experts is a littles less authoritative in the American show?

3) What is really so imaginative in building a car in a junkyard full of car parts (the steam car episode being an exception)?

4) How long can the show last as an evil clone of the original?

-- Ronnie MacVey (ronniemac@hotmail.com), January 04, 2001.

Response to Why watch the US version, theyÂ’re doing the same stuff.

The experts for this series are hardly less authoritative; in fact, in at least one case you just don't get any higher authorities.

In the accurate-throwing competition, the team-appointed experts are well-known in the "punkin chunkin" (honest to God, that's what it's called) community and the official association helped pick them out for the show. As for the judge, Bill Thompson, he's the guy who first put together the sport in the first place.

-- YCDK (ycdk@hotmail.com), January 04, 2001.